Viewing page 115 of 252

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

WELCOME...to the Third Annual Awards Banquet of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters. This is the occasion on which we celebrate and commemorate the creative genius of the black people of America, and ol all others who share or who have shared the common bond of the black experience. Tonight, we will offer our spiritual libations, as it were, to the Great Ones, who having left us the legacies of their genius, smile back at us and urge us on to greater accomplishments. And tonight we will honor those among us who having accepted their challenge, have shown us greatness in our own time. That is what the Black Academy of Arts and Letters is all about - the determination to excel; to be relevant, to answer "Yes!" to the unforgettable dictum of Marcus Garvey: "Up you mighty race. You can accomplish what you will!"

C. Eric Lincoln
President
Black Academy of Arts and Letters, Inc.

[[images - 4 black and white photographs of people attending the Third Annual Awards Banquet of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters.]]

HALL OF FAME ENROLLMENT

W.C. Handy, Composer, Musician, 1873-1958 - by Etta Moten Barnett; Alexander Crummell, Scholar, 1819-1898 - by Carl T. Rowan; Edmonia Lewis, Sculptress, 1845-1911 - by Inge Hardison; Mr. Francios Clemmons, Guest Artist; For her longstanding and continued contribution to the Arts: Marian Anderson - by Benjamin Mays; For Outstanding Achievement in Letters: Sterling Brown - by Ossie Davis; For Oustanding Achievement in Art: Aaron Douglas - by Vertis Hayes; Black Angel Award, Dr. C. Eric Lincoln; The Main Ingredient and Finale.

121